Feeling Anxious Right Now? 2 Easy Tools for Managing Anxiety

“Apprehension and anxiety, worries and concerns, injure the spirit” ~Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic, from 2nd century BCE

Worry or anxiety is thought to serve a useful evolutionary purpose.  It has enabled us to anticipate danger and difficulty and plan strategies to deal with them. Moderate worry helps us deal more effectively and safely with our environment and the world, as long as it remains under our control.  However, it becomes harmful when it is excessive and we are unable to free ourselves from its tight grip. 

There are many reasons people feel aniexty and sometimes non at all. With all of the current issues we are facing, a lot of us are experiencing a lot of stress as our whole world has changed.

Here are few easy tools to start to release anxiety from our lives.

Tapping Technique to Acupressure Pt - KI27:  (feel your collar bone (bilaterally):

Step 1: Move your hands as far center as possible still resting on the collar bone 

Step 2: Move fingers directly below the collar bone - with fingers still on it - and tap continuously until you feel some relief.

Step 3. Always Breathe. Inhale and then exhale as much as you can - try to exhale several counts LONGER than you inhale.  This will tell the body, “There is no tiger to run from, I am safe”.

COMMON SIGNS, SYMPTOMS  (MAYO CLINIC):

  • Feeling restless, nervous or tense

  • Having a sense of impending doom, panic or danger

  • Rapid heart rate

  • Breathing rapidly (hyperventilation)

  • Sweating

  • Trembling

  • Feeling fatigued

  • Trouble focusing or thinking about anything other than the present issue/worry

  • Insomnia

  • Gastrointestinal (GI) problems

  • Obsessive worry

  • Having the urge to avoid things that trigger anxiety

THE FOLLOWING RISK FACTORS MAY INCREASE YOUR RISK OF DEVELOPING AN ANXIETY DISORDER:

  • Trauma. Children who endured abuse or trauma or witnessed traumatic events are at higher risk of developing an anxiety disorder at some point in life. Adults who experience a traumatic event also can develop anxiety disorders.

  • Stress due to an illness. Having a health condition or serious illness can cause significant worry about issues such as your treatment and your future.

  • Stress buildup. A big event or a buildup of smaller stressful life situations may trigger excessive anxiety — for example, a death in the family, work stress or ongoing worry about finances.

  • Personality. People with certain personality types are more prone to anxiety disorders than others.

  • Other mental health disorders. People with other mental health disorders, such as depression, often also have an anxiety disorder.

  • Having blood relatives with an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders can run in families.

  • Drugs or alcohol. Drug or alcohol use or misuse or withdrawal can cause or worsen anxiety.

There is help for you and a way to control and release anxiety. We can help with Chinese Medicine.

“Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it? Supposing it didn’t, said Pooh after careful thought.  Piglet was comforted by this.”

~A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh, 1928

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